The Internet is a world-wide network of interconnected computers. The World-Wide-Web is an information system on the Internet designed for electronic document interchange. Electronic documents on the World-Wide-Web are typically stored in files that include text, hypertext, references to graphics, animation, audio, video and other electronic data. The structure of hypertext documents is defined by document markup languages such as Standard Generalized Markup Language (“SGML”), Hyper Text Markup Language (“HTML”), eXtensible Markup Language (“XML”), Virtual Reality Markup Language (“VRML”) and others.
As is known in the art, a hypertext document includes markup codes called “tags.” Tags define the structure of a hypertext document and typically includes at least a “begin” tag name enclosed by a delimiter and, in many instances, an “end” tag name enclosed by a delimiter. For example, the markup tag “<H1>” signifies the beginning of a Hyper Text Markup Language first level header, and the markup tag “</H1>” signifies the end of a Hyper Text Markup Language first level header. However, the Hyper Text Markup Language image tag “<IMG . . . >” ends with the closing tag delimiter “>” and does not use an end tag in the format “<\IMG>”. Other markup languages have similar tags used to create hypertext documents.
Markup languages allow references to additional content besides text including graphics, animation, audio, video and other electronic data. The Hyper Text Markup Language allows use of graphical images in a hypertext document with an image “<IMG>” tag. For example, an exemplary Hyper Text Markup Language image tag <IMG SRC=“logo.jpg”> allows a graphical logo image stored in a Joint Pictures Expert Group file “logo.jpg” to be displayed.
Hypertext documents from the World-Wide-Web are typically displayed for a user with a software application called a “browser” such as Internet Explorer, by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Wash., or Netscape Navigator, by Netscape Communications of Mountain View, Calif., and others. A browser typically parses a hypertext document and converts hypertext, including markup tags, into a visual display of text, graphics, animation, audio, video, etc., for display on a device such as a personal computer display.
Additional content is retrieved in a hypertext document from other sources using “hyperlink” references within hypertext documents. For example, an exemplary Hyper Text Markup Language hyperlink tag “<A HREF=“http://www.spyglass.com/logo.mov”>” provides a hyperlink to a movie file “logo.mov.” When a user selects the link (e.g., with a mouse click) in a hypertext document, the movie file “logo.mov” is located using a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”) from the location “www.spyglass.com.” Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (e.g., “HTTP”) is used as the transfer protocol.
Transfer protocols such as Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”), Gopher, and others provide a means for transferring hypertext documents or additional content from other locations on the World-Wide-Web. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is one primary protocol used to transfer information on the World-Wide-Web. Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a protocol that allows users to connect to a server, make a hypertext request, get a response, and then disconnect from the server. File Transfer Protocol is a protocol that provides access to files on remote systems. Using File Transfer Protocol, a user logs onto a system, searches a directory structure and downloads or uploads a file. Gopher is a protocol similar to File Transfer Protocol. Gopher provides a series of menus linked to files containing actual hypertext.
Content providers on the World-Wide-Web provide custom content using attributes from markup language tags. For example, the Hyper Text Markup Language IMG tag includes the following attributes: ISMAP, a selectable image map; SRC, a source Uniform Resource Locator of an image; ALT, a text string used instead of an image; ALIGN, for alignment of an image (e.g., left, middle, right); VSPACE, the space between an image and the text above and below it; HSPACE, the space between and image and the text to its left or right; WIDTH, the width in pixels of an image; HEIGHT, the height in pixels of an image; and a few other attributes depending on the browser being used (e.g., BORDER and LOWSRC in a Netscape browser). In addition, other content attributes can be modified such as one of 256 colors (e.g., TEXT=“blue,” or TEXT=“0xa6caf0” for sky blue), font face (e.g., FONT FACE=“Times Roman”), character formatting, (e.g., <B>text</B> for bold text), etc.
Most of the electronic documents developed for the World-Wide-Web assume that users will view the content of the electronic document with a browser on a desktop computer screen with a standard “SuperVGA” resolution (e.g., 800×600 pixel resolution with 256 or more available colors). A user can alter display of selected electronic 410 document content by changing browser attributes (e.g., color of text, size of text). However, the changeable content is limited by changeable attributes in a browser being used.
There are a number of problems with using electronic documents developed for the World-Wide-Web based on the assumption of viewing with standard “SuperVGA” resolution. A user with a hand-held computer, personal digital assistant (“PDA”) or other hand-held device, such as wireless phone, may desire to view electronic documents from the World-Wide-Web. However, most hand-held devices have a display with a resolution that is less than SuperVGA (e.g., less than 800×600 pixel resolution and less than 256 colors) and typically do not support color. Thus, the content of electronic documents will not be properly displayed and may be difficult to view based on the original hypertext content.
One solution is to store several versions of an electronic document for different devices. However, this often makes administration of the electronic documents very difficult. Multiple copies of electronic documents also waste a tremendous amount of storage space on electronic document servers on the World-Wide-Web. The dynamic nature of the World-Wide-Web also means that new content types are constantly being introduced. Multiple copies of existing electronic documents must be constantly manipulated.
Another solution is to provide content conversion applications to convert electronic documents to match the capabilities of a device or the preferences of a user. One purpose of converting electronic documents is to provide information to users in a format different from that provided by the initial electronic document provider. Examples include scaling images for a specific device with a small display or converting text to speech for a visually impaired user. Most content conversion applications depend on a user-device to render the electronic document being displayed. As a result, each hand-held device is required to have a copy of a desired content conversion application.
There have been attempts to provide content conversion applications for electronic documents for the World-Wide-Web. QuickWeb Technology, by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., analyzes a hypertext document for graphic images and then compresses bits of image data so that the images can be transmitted faster to a user's device. QuickWeb Technology also caches images. After a user's first request, an image is cached by QuickWeb. Subsequent requests for the same image are delivered from the cached source instead of a remote content server. QuickWeb Technology is limited to converting images and currently does not allow conversion of other content information.
TranSend, by the University of California at Berkeley, Calif., provides a conversion proxy that converts images in an electronic document by reducing image quality. Although the resulting images are of a lower quality, an original image can also be recovered. The TranSend Proxy distills images for faster electronic document display from the World-Wide-Web. TranSend limits user configurations to turning the proxy on and off and reducing image quality for faster transmission. TranSend is also currently limited to converting images only and does not allow conversion of other information.
One aspect of content conversion of hypertext electronic documents allows one or more parts of a first hypertext electronic document to be selected for display in a second hypertext electronic document. For example, the Microsoft Network, by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., allows a user to create a customized home page by selecting display items such as news, stock quotes, sports, weather and other information. The display items are retrieved from other hypertext electronic documents on the World-Wide-Web on the Internet and displayed by a browser in a pre-determined format on a customized home page.
However, to select hypertext content, short lists of display items that can be used to customize a home page are provided. For example, on a given network, a list of sports information sites may only include ESPN and MSNBC sports related sites. If it is desired to receive information from a Sports Illustrated sports information site and the site was not in the short list of display items provided to customize a home page, then information from the Sports Illustrated site could not be included on the customized home page.
To display selected customized content, browsers known in the art typically create a Document Object Model (“DOM”) representing elements in a hypertext electronic document (e.g., Hyper Text Markup Language elements). A hypertext element is a fundamental component of a structure of a hypertext electronic document. Hypertext elements typically are marked by selected start tags and end tags as was described above. Selected custom content is typically included in one or more hypertext elements.
Browsers known in the art typically do not create an entirely new hypertext electronic document when hypertext elements representing desired content are selected. Instead such browsers manipulate the selected hypertext elements obtained from another hypertext electronic document using Visual Basic Script (“VBScript”), JavaScript, or other scripting languages as the hypertext elements are displayed for a user. Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (“DHTML”) by Microsoft has also been used to allow manipulation of selected hypertext elements. More information on Microsoft products can be obtained at the URL “www.microsoft.com.”
Browser manipulation of hypertext elements typically requires additional processing power, memory, display capabilities for SuperVGA resolution and one or more script languages to display selected hypertext elements. As a result, browser manipulation of selected hypertext elements may not be appropriate for a hand-held device or other small device with limited processing power, limited memory or display capabilities of less than SuperVGA resolution. In addition, a hand-held device may only be capable of using a striped down version of a browser without enough functionality to properly manipulate selected hypertext elements.
Thus, it is desirable to provide selected hypertext elements in a format suitable for display on a user network device. The hypertext elements should be selectable from virtually any electronic document server on the World-Wide-Web on the Internet, an intranet or other network and converted for display on a user network device based on conversion preferences selected by a user.